Excitement

There seem to be two things that make Lucas get excited. I'm talking about the squeal as loud as possible oh my gosh I'm going to jump outta my diaper right now kind of excitement. Seeing this excitement come from him is one of the best parts of my day. When James is on his way home from work we hang out around the front door. When I see him driving down the street I'll open the door and say here comes daddy. When Lucas sees his car, his reaction is priceless. Da he screams and starts jumping up and down, knocking on the door. When James walks in the door is when the second source of his excitement. "CALL!!!" What's a call you ask? It's James' work cell phone. Lucas loves to play with phones. I suppose he refers to them as calls b/c I always ask "who are you calling?" or "who you gonna call?". He likes a few different phones but it seems as if James' work phone is the ultimate prize. The moment James gets in the door Lucas is shouting out, "call, call, call, call" all the while pointing to James' waist where he knows this phone of gold resides. It's so comical. On the flip side, it's not something he should play with and when he's told no, it's a total meltdown. But for those few moments, his excitement makes everything good in the world!

Pictures are Here!!!

One of the best parts of my day is when James gets home from work. Yes, I'm glad he's home, but that's not why. When I open the front door and say "Daddy's home", the pure excitement that comes out of those two little boys is priceless. They love when daddy comes home. It is absolutey precious.
I have been like a child this week, running to the mailbox every day anxiously hoping that our pictures would be there. Today was the day. It was freezing cold but when I opened the door, there it was. I was happy with what I saw.

Sickness

We've all been sick over the last week or two. It's finally starting to go away, thankfully. Time has been filled with sick boys, sick Mommy & Daddy, making homemade Christmas presents and of course the Thanksgiving holiday & putting up the Christmas tree. In that time, we also managed to have some pictures taken. The cd is due to arrive today, hopefully, so I'll be uploading those ASAP!!! I can't wait to see them :)

Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!!

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

Anyone who knows me knows I have a love of all things Wizard of Oz. When I found toddler Wiz of Oz costumes I jumped on them. Here's how they turned out....
We carved pumpkins, put on the costumes, walked to a few neighbor's houses to show them off them came back and the boys watched with fascination the other trick or treaters.

14 more to go!!

So let's talk poundage. Even before the boys were born, I was not at a weight that I was completely happy with. It seemed that over the year of TTC, weight seemed to sneak up on me and I didn't realize it was there until there was a lot there. I gained 50lbs with the boys and lost those 50lbs. I seemed to stablize at the same weight I was before I got pregnant. I wasn't happy with it but didn't do anything about it. Well, I guess about 2 months or so ago I went to my dad's house and went through my closet. I couldn't fit into any of the clothes in the closet or my wedding dress sitting in the bottom of my closet. I got extremely upset and set a goal...to get back in my wedding dress. Well I am happy to say I am 12 lbs closer to that happening. This is a public blog so I'm not going to say a specific number, but I have a goal in mind and 14 more lbs will get me there. I am fitting back in clothes that I haven't worn in over 2 years. I feel soooo much better about myself. I'm making healthier choices with food and cut my portions down to a healthy size. Overall, I'm just excited. My goal is very achievable and I am so excited to make it!! A friend on facebook had a status a while back that stuck with me...food doesn't taste as good as I feel when I see the number on the scale. It's true. It's not about the number for me. It's to feel better and healthier. Plus I want my husband to find me even sexier than he does :)

16 Months and Pumpkins

Time management is not my strong suit. I'm behind!! Last Wednesday the boys hit 16 months. I try not to sit and think where did the last 16 months go and how did my tiny babies to get be such big boys that walk and talk. Instead I try to just sit amazed at all the things they know and do.
I love that we play repeater. Hearing the boys repeat after me is fun b/c I love to hear how they say things. I'm just waiting for the day, though, when someone repeats CRAP!

Last Sunday we went to a local farm that does wagon rides to their pumpkin patch for you to pick your own pumpkin. I had to dress them in their new overalls and plaid shirts :) I took a ton of pictures and loved how they turned out. Posing them is virtually impossible so I try to get the best action shots I can. I love playing with James' work SLR camera.Yesterday we took the boys to the zoo and it was great to see them so interested in the animals. Each time we go back it seems like they seem a little more intrigued than the last time. We even took them in the petting zoo area but they didn't really seem to care. It was fun for James though!

I need to get a few pics of them in their Halloween costumes. Anyone who is close with me knows that The Wizard of Oz is my all time most favoritist movie ever!!!! So when I found Scarecrow & TinMan costumes, you better believe I snatched them right up!! We tried them on once and the boys were adorable!! But they were disinterested and wanted to keep taking their hats off. I'm hoping on Halloween they'll be better about it b/c they hats make such a difference!!!

Fall Fun Outside

Gargoyle???

Yes, my son Lucas said gargoyle yesterday. We were at grandma & grandpas and have they have a small gargoyle sitting on top of their piano. Lucas was sitting on grandma's lap pointing at it so she told him it was a gargoyle. He must have repeated it like 10 times. I couldn't believe he could say that!!!

I haven't blogged b/c everyone in this house has been sick. We all got hit with some seriously nasty sinus stuff that came with a fever so we were each down about a day. Well, over the weekend Lucas came down with a fever. Monday he was covered in a rash. Took him to the dr and he tested positive for strep throat. Poor little guy. Aside from wanting me to hold him a lot yesterday (which I really didn't mind) he acted like he felt just fine yesterday. I'm assuming today will be the same. During this time, we did manage to get their 15 month checkup in. I can't remember their stats so that will have to wait but they are doing great!

Ethan loves the word dog. EVERYTHING is a dog. Well, I'm happy to announce he has another word!!! Doggy. It's so cute to hear him say doggy! I just love watching them grow and learn. We're working on body parts and so far I can only get them to point at nose, ears, and hair, but we're working on it. If you tell them to go get something, they do it and with a smile on their face.

Naps are going through a transition. They're not sure if they want one or two. Sometimes they'll only take one and sometimes two but they're a different length every day. Makes for some cranky babies come evening though.

Playing with the Camera

For Dutchie :)

Grandma & Grandpa took a trip a few weeks ago to some state parks up north. They took a trip over the border into Canada and brought back these cute shirts for the boys. Since our friends Shannon and Benjamin are from there, the boys wore their new shirts proudly!! Can't wait to see you Shannon & meet Benjamin in just over a month!

My son, the cleaner

So over the last (almost) 15 months, we've cleaned up a lot of baby spit up. Does it get on the carpet sometimes, yes. The boys have seen us clean up these spots more often than I'd like to think. Well, apparently Lucas picked up our habit because Thursday he did the cutest thing. He spit up while I was focusing on Ethan. After a moment, I realized what had happened and as I got up to grab a wipe to do the initial clean up, I see Lucas crawling from across the room with a dried out wipe in his hand. He crawled right back to the spot where he spit up and proceeded to pat the spot with the wipe. Seriously, my son crawled across the room to grab a wipe he saw then crawled back to clean up the mess he made. How incredibly precious is that?!?! They really are little sponges absorbing things that I don't even realize they're paying attention to!

We Must Eat....

books!! My kids love to chew on their books. Any other chewy teething type toy isn't good enough. Their mission: destroy all board books! They have ruined most of our board books & I'm not sure why or how to stop them. We sit down to read & they're fine just reading/looking at pictures. When we're not reading them, they chow down. I'm assuming it's just an exploration thing, at least that's what I'm hoping. If we ever add anymore brownies to this clan, they'll be without books.

A Few Pics

We love our cozy coupes!!
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GO CARDS!!!

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"I'm gonna get you"
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I look so cute when I pull my hair!

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"What, am I not suppose to climb up in here and sit down?"

A lot to come

Things have been super busy around our house. We have two walkers, my Thirty-One business has been going well, my in laws were out of town so my usual Wednesday & Friday help were gone. I miss my blog and have a lot of things to update. It is fall in my house (in my head) so I need to make some changes to my blog to reflect that. Stay tuned (if anyone is still reading this)

Jealousy

We are dealing with this a lot in our house, mostly from Ethan. Ethan likes to snuggle and cuddle with me and Lucas likes to play independently. When Lucas decides he wants some one on one attention from Mommy, though, Ethan doesn't like it one bit. He'll come and push his way between us. He will pull on Lucas to move him away from me. He will push him out of his way so that Ethan can be on my lap instead. It has been for a long time that if Ethan wants a toy that Lucas has he will take it away from him, which still continues. But now he's pushing and pulling Lucas which is far worse than just taking his toy away.

Stairs

When the boys started showing interest in the stairs a few months ago, we didn't want them any where near them. Well, we then figured maybe it would be good for them to know how to get up and down the stairs. Plus they really have lots of fun. Both boys are proficient going up and Ethan is proficient going down, Lucas is still learning. They always do this supervised with an adult one or two steps behind them. Here's a video of Ethan.

SO GROSS!!!

When I woke up this morning, I thought this was going to be a regular morning. Uh, so wrong. We do not use an alarm clock to wake us up in the morning. We use babies. I normally go down and get their milk ready so once they're changed, we can give it to them immediately without any meltdowns while waiting. This morning James decided to pour the milk. I went in and gave good morning kisses. I picked Ethan up first because he usually has a poopy diaper first thing in the morning. I leaned him down to Lucas so they could touch a minute then laid him on the changing table. I went to take his diaper off and realized he wasn't wearing one!!!!! Oh NO! I peek in his crib and what do I see, a poppy diaper laying in his bed. I yell for James and look back at Ethan. He has it on his hands. Yuck! He has it on the right side of his cheek leading to his MOUTH! How disgusting. What was in his diaper still looked intact, not a mushy mess so I can't say for sure if he did eat any, but we are assuming. Now I know crazy things are going to happen and things will get messy with two boys, but ewwww. He hasn't gotten sick so I'm glad for that. I do think he will have a black eye tomorrow though. We have a wagon that the giant size legos came in that Ethan likes to crawl in and out of. It's the perfect size for them. We'll put them in it and drag them around the house. They love it. Well, Ethan was climbing out of it, his foot got caught and he fell hitting his head on the corner of a cardboard box right where his eyebrow ends. That spot was already bruising within a few minutes and it looked like under his eye might be turning a purplish color. What a day! I know spills come with the territory, but I still felt bad about it.

Time Out

We've been trying out "Time Out" the last two days. Do I think it's working? I have no idea. I'm going to continue to do it though. Lucas still wants to turn the tv on and off and Ethan has started pulling my hair. So I kind of smack at their hand, say no we don't ____ and then put them in the pack n play in the other room for a minute or two. Then when I get them out, I again say what it is that they're not supposed to do and when I bring them back to the living room, give them a toy that they can play with and tell them that. Hopefully they'll catch on soon. We'll see.

Thankfully Lucas hasn't bitten anyone lately. He does have two new teeth that just broke through overnight. Now he has 8 teeth. Such a growin boy!

Biting...Advice Please!!

My intention was to blog today about all the words they've been saying. After this morning's incident, it's time to talk about biting. Both boys had a little bit of a biting issue when they first started teething. Ethan stopped as soon as his mouth filled up with teeth. His bites were usually your fingers on a little munch on your shoulder when you were holding him. Lucas, however, has not stopped and he's graduated from misdemeanor biting to felony biting.

He used to bit at your shoulder when you were holding him, your belly if he was sitting in front of you, my knees if I'm on the floor with my knees in the air, my ankles if my legs were straight out in front of me. Now he's biting Ethan. But he's not biting Ethan the same ways he's biting me or James, he's leaning over and chomping on Ethan's cheek. He's done it twice now. "No Bite!!" isn't working. I've asked a few friends and they've suggested that we bit Lucas back. Not hard enough to leave marks, but hard enough where he learns that it hurts. Those who've suggested it say it worked for their kids. These are people I trust and their kids are well behaved. We have to teach him not to bite. I'm confident this will end when he isn't teething anymore, but the boy has 4 front teeth and two molars that have started to come in. We have a LONG way to go before he's finished. What do I do? I want to teach him that it hurts and is wrong. Do I bite him back? Time out doesn't work. He gets distracted, but it isn't teaching him not to do it.

I'm also dealing with him learning not to turn off the tv. We have a flat screen in the living room and James said it's not good for him to keep turning it on and off. Plus it's annoying, whether I'm watching something or if it's off and he turns it on. He loves to cruise up to the tv, press the button, then turn around and smile. I said firmly NO, smack his hand and he laughs. Why is he laughing? Does he not see me as a disciplinarian? They've never really done anything up to this point that required more than a NO NO. I'm not really sure where to go fro here; what to do. Help me, please. What did/would you do???

First Steps

Lucas took his first steps today. Several. Of course my camera battery is dead so I didn't get a chance to record it. I will try tomorrow. Apparently he just needs the right motivation. That boy loves any type of phone he can get his hands on. I was getting ready upstairs for a birthday party and James was playing with the boys. He called me to say that Lucas was wanting the iphone so James held it out and he walked over to grab the phone. It was only about 3 or 4 steps, but they were HIS FIRST STEPS. We are so proud. I was able to get him to do it a few more times. I know once they're both walking my world is going to be very different and I just might wish for the days when they weren't walking, but for now, I'm super excited!

Seriously?

My two sons can climb up the stairs and Ethan can walk down backwards. HE CAN WALK DOWN THE STAIRS!!! Where did he learn this? He did it the other day and I thought it was a fluke. I was sitting on the couch and he was sitting with me then decided he wanted to get down so he turned around and scooted off the couch backwards. I mean seriously...where did he learn this?? I am happy they are learning and progressing, I'm just not prepared for some of this!!!

Another example....
This is going to sound unbelievable, however, I swear up and down this is exactly what I heard.
Ethan & I had a conversation the other day that went like this. Ethan was standing in front of the end table that had a foam ball and plastic cup sitting on top. Ethan said, "mama, ball" while pointing to the ball. I gave him the ball and he threw it down. Again, he said "mama, mama". I said, "no baby you can't have the cup". He said "ok" and turned around and sat down. He seriously made sounds that sounded exactly like it. I know they're not babies anymore, but this is way too grown up for me to handle!!

A New Career Path

Before Ethan & Lucas, I worked full time at a rehab clinic that helps reintroduce brain injury patients back into their daily life routines and the community. I loved it. The women I worked with were wonderful people and the work they do is amazing. At the first of the year, I started back working on Fridays. It was a good way to bring in a little extra money and get some appreciated adult time. I will continue to work on Fridays, but I have now signed up as a Thirty One Gifts consultant. I've been to several parties and hosted a catalog party of my own. After much thought and prayer, I knew this was a good choice for me. I am very excited about working for a company that is geared towards woman in a positive way, plus their products are ADORABLE!

You should check out their products on the online catalog. The new Fall/Winter catalog debut's August 1 so now is the last few days to take advantage of the fun summer catalog. My website:
http://www.mythirtyone.com/28451/
If you see anything you'd like to order, just shoot me an email jeanniebrown31@gmail.com.
Most of my blog mommies are too far away to host a house party, but an alternative is to host a catalog party. I'd send you a few catalogs or you'd view the online catalog and you'd have a month to take orders. The best part about it all, if you have a party that sells $250+ you earn free products. Ok, that's my shameless plug. I'm excited about this new adventure and will let you know how my first party goes :)

13 Months

I almost didn't realize the date today. First off, the boys are better. I guess it was just a nasty bug that passed through quickly. We did pass it off to Mamaw & Papaw though :( Sorry!
We had to wash their clothes after they got sick so Papaw was night enough to let them borrow some sleeveless shirts. Of course they were huge and had to be tied in knots to stay up but they were too funny/cute!!
Overall Changes:
No more bottles
All solid "big people" food
We finally got the convertible carseats out and installed
Eat 3 meals a day with snacks between allowing us to eat dinner as a family now

Ethan:

*Starting to walk more than crawl
*Will stand up and sit down without holding on to anything
*Is becoming more vocal
*Will say Mama to get my attention and will point to something along with saying Mama when he wants something
*Will say Dog or Bailey when he hears or see Bailey
*Loves food!
*Will dance to any kind of music he hears*Cries when I leave a room and/or throws a tantrum
*Gives Lucas hugs all the time!
*Refuses to sit in the bathtub
*Loves to wear sunglasses

Lucas:

*Says ball ALL-THE-TIME and points to balls anytime he sees them
*Crawls and cruises at the speed of light
*Does not want to be confined or immobile...he crawls all the time
*Talks about and points to everything
*Will now walk when holding on to just one hand instead of needing two to stabilize
*Refuses to sit in the bathtub
*Says dog when he hears or sees a dog on tv
*Likes to take sunglasses off his face